Boundaries

Maya Lin's "Boundaries" is both creative and stimulating. This book is not an autobiography and it is not an art book, but rather an extension of Lin's work. Many know Lin for creating the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and like the memorial "Boundaries" provides a medium-both public and private-to observe and interpret what we sometimes don't even consider. If you like photography, architecture, or simply wish to know more about an idea behind one of Lin's works then this book is for you. I love the format. It is easy to read and the pictures are of high quality. The pages are numbered from 1:00 to 12:00 and each chapter starts with a new hour. "Boundaries" is refreshing- it's truly unique and inspiring.

There are two ways to read this book, as Lin points out in the preface. First is just as a coffee table picture book. In that role, "Boundaries" gives a photographic tour of many varied monuments and installations. Lin is best known for the Vietnam Veteran's memorial. At the time, it was an unprecendented look and a deep controversy. Since then, I think it has become what Lin had hoped: one of the most personally involving war memorials ever. Lin has moved on since then, and this book shows many of her more recent works.Although her family heritage is Chinese, Lin identifies herself as American. That gives her the freedom to use concepts from many Asian traditions. Many of her later works show a sense that I see as Zen-like. They are centered on stone, water, earth, and light. Like that first memorial, they invite the viewer to touch and become involved in the work. "Waves", for example, is a large-scale earthwork to be explored, offering surprising privacy in an open, sunlit lawn.The second reading of this book comes from its text. It explains Lin's approach to her work. I was quite surprised to fined out how important collaboration is for her. Most of her installations are undertaken with archtitects, writers, or preparators of various kinds, quite opposite the 'lonely artist' stereotype. I was also surprised to learn that her first conception of most pieces is narrative, not pictorial. To me, translating word into image and structure is a complete mystery. My own thoughts work in the other direction. That difference intrigues me.The book itself is a pleasant artifact. It's well printed, well organized, and displays some thoughtful, unusual typography. It's a vehicle well suited to the material it carries. "Boundaries" was printed in 2000. That means that the catalog of Lin's work has developed since then. More of her work surely exists that was locked out by the publication date. I look forward to the next book documenting her work, and I look forward to her future development as an artist.

This book is a fascinating look into the mind of Maya Lin. It describes her intimate thoughts regarding the design of her most important works, how she develops the designs, and what they mean to her. It is written in a very accessible style and is a joy to read.

Maya Lin's "Boundaries" is much like her three-dimensional creations - austere, at once both subtle and direct, outwardly detached, and ultimately effective in evoking a deep emotional response from within the beholder rather than imposing an exterior sentiment. Lin, of course, first came to prominence two decades ago when, as an undergraduate architecture student, she won the prestigious design competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Her concept, popularly known as "The Wall," was fiercely criticized at that time for its radical departure from traditional memorial designs, yet from its unveiling in 1982 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has been accorded widespread recognition for its profound aptness and - there is no better word - genius. Although Lin's work since that remarkable debut has been on a smaller physical scale, it continues to follow a line of imaginative external simplicity in use of shape and space, covertly deceptive in masking emotional complexity beneath. The title of the book is meant to express Lin's view that she and her creations inhabit the boundary between distinctly different qualities - architecture-art, natural-urban, inside-outside, Asian-American - simultaneously being neither and both. "Boundaries" is not an autobiography. Maya Lin speaks through her architecture and her sculptures, and this book unwaveringly focuses upon that work and the creative process behind it. While the photographs in the volume are effective in presenting a broad impression of design and form, the real pictures are those drawn by Lin's words. For a visual artist, she has a rare appreciation of verbal power and substance. In fact, Maya Lin regards words as a vital basis for her designs, the reflection of her own background: her father was a ceramist and her mother a poet. As a physical object, the book itself has purposely been given a unique character to fittingly express Lin's artistic vision, occupying the boundary between "art book" and "reading book". The text literally begins on the inside front cover and spans the entirety of the volume, ending only on the inside back cover. Even the jacket has been incorporated as a harmonious, integral component of the whole. Like Lin's creations erected in public spaces and those fashioned in her studio, "Boundaries" is an exquisite embodiment of a meeting between restraint and stimulation.

Maya Lin's book 'Boundaries' is a well conceived and beautifully executed book on the artistic process. The detail in which she describes her thoughts and ideas crystalizing into artwork is very readable. None of the chapters are filled with hollow artistic philosophy as I often find in books on contemporary art and atistic processes. The overall design of the book is also quite stunning. Many photos from Lin's work and studio are included. She even goes as far as describing why the book has been created at a particular size. In my opinion, this is one of the best books I've ever read on artistic creation and process.